Back in January my better half & I decided March would be a good time for a holiday, after looking around at various locations across the globe, we decided upon Fuerteventura, this report is for the outbound trip.

Thankfully we only had a short trip to the airport, I'd managed to persuade my GF that 1 stop via MAD, travelling from LHR, more BA miles in her account lounge access beat travelling from Gatwick on a charter flight, all this for pretty much the same price.

A quick check-in at BA's premium check-in area and straight through security (with shoes on) left us in the shopping mall that BAA call T1. We only needed a few bits to read and then on to the lounge.

As you know, BA's lounges are pretty good, we managed to down fresh fruit, yoghurt, toast and I even managed a Vodka & Tonic! It's just a shame that this one does not have any runway/apron views.

The flight board indicated boarding had started so we headed down to the gate. I knew we would need to go through another security area so better early than late, good job too, the whole area was chaos, the que,if you could call it that, went back to the moving walkway (which had been turned off), people were pushing in all over the place, madness!! BAA really need to get their act together for these secondary screening areas, they are just so badly set up and thought out.

We made the plane, lot's of American school kids from Philly on this flight, most lacking manners!!

Anyway, flight was pretty much full, I had 6A, my GF6B and one of the school Kids in 6C with a very loud MP3 player or whatever they listen to these days don't people know they can damage your hearing??

BA 319 @ LHR T1

Push back was 2 minutes behind schedule with a brisk taxi to the active runway.

A short hold, wheels left the ground at 09:45.

I must be honest, I don'tt recall much about the flight as I was totally knackered from a long week and not getting home until about 2am that morning. I do remember a tasty sandwich and a coffee, but that's about it, sorry.

We touched down early and headed to the gate. Once off the plane, we noted the next flight left from the other part of Terminal 4, I think that's what it's called. Anyway, we cleared Passport control and followed the transfer signs to transfer to the other terminal.

Now the annoying thing here is that you don't leave the security of airside but still have to clear security at the other terminal, daft if you ask me.

That aside, we found the IB Lounge and had a few drinks, snacks and I did a little spotting before our next flight. The lounge is pretty nice and airy, plenty of comfy seats to relax in. IB offer a decent wine selection however snacks are minimal, crisps, nuts & olives pretty much sum it up, quite poor compared to BA.

Time got away with us, it might have been down to the decent Rioja in the lounge we had to run for the flight!!

After sprinting from the lounge, we found the gate just 5 minutes before departure, the IB agent took our boarding passes and advised we had been re-seated, bugger, I guess they though we weren't going to show, I asked if we were still seated together and he said yes, we had been upgraded to Business Class due to my Silver Status!! Result, thanks Iberia.

The flight had shown as a 752 at time of booking, but had been downgraded to a 320 today, no biggie, I prefer the 32X cabin size.

Push back was late, the crew giving no indication as to the delay, though it appeared to be mostly a hold for connecting passengers.

IB M88 @ MAD

Our cabin had 9 out of the 18 seats occupied, Y looked pretty much full though.

A short taxi and the main gear left the ground at 14:51.

Having not flown IB Business for a few years, I was not too sure what to expect, especially as this was a domestic flight.

Cabin service started soon after take-off, drinks with a small bag of nuts being offered.

The meal arrived sometime afterwards and it looked pretty good, salad, bread, Veal as the main and a very tasty desert to finish it off. The usual Tea & Coffee afterwards along with more wine etc if req. I must say it was pretty good, the only down side being the meat was rather pink inside, I prefer my meat well done, I like it dead!

Meal on IB876

The trays were cleared away promptly leaving us free to relax, it was quite a pleasant flight.

As the plane began it's decent we noticed how foggy it was outside, even as we touched down it was still far from clear weather, I was quite disappointed, hopefully it would improve for the rest of the week.

On approach to FUR

We taxied past a Thomas Cook 320 & 753 and an Air Berlin 738 to our gate.

Baggage claim was busy as the planes above had only just arrived, I guess it too about 15 minutes for the bags to arrive, not too bad really.

Hello, Mark,
nice to read your well written story.
The IB lounge at MAD looks well designed, while MAD is IMO more a big construction site than anything else nowadays.
I was for several times there, last time yesterday, lots of diversions between the terminals, blocked walkways, not the best for less experienced travellers.
Not bad to read about your positive IB experience, with all that spain domestic competition this time.FUE was also a vacation destination for me and my familie for three or four times, let us know where you stay there and
about your ride back home.
Best regards,
Markus (FLIEGER67)

- I quite liked it to, once airside the observation decks are ok for spotting thonugh not photo's. I quite fancy going back for a spotting trip in the summer, appears there may be some decent spots for pictures around the airport grounds.

Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 4):The IB lounge at MAD looks well designed, while MAD is IMO more a big construction site than anything else nowadays.
I was for several times there, last time yesterday, lots of diversions between the terminals, blocked walkways, not the best for less experienced travellers.

- Hi Markus, I found the newest part of T4 quite confusing, not very well laid out at all. I travel a fair amount so amd not one of these people who get's lost in the terminal, but I could see that happening here, there so much signage that it loses clarity and causes confusion. I also noted that flights had a tendancey to 'vanish' from the flight monitors inc our connection flight, this caused a bit of a worry, thought we had gone to the wrong terminal!! Re the IB lounge, that was quite nice, light & airy.

- We stayed in the South of the Island, a town called Jandia, not many English there so we could avoid those drunken brits on holday - The beach was nice, nice places to eat and walk, I'd go back again.

- That was a nice unexpected bonus, well done to IB for picking up on my Status and actually rewarding me for loyalty - even if it was with a OneWorld partner and not them directly.

Quoting Speedbird0697 (Reply 7):'d be interested to hear what you think of MAD's T4. In most photos I have seen it always looks dark with no natural light inside. Is this the case in reality?

- Re the lighting, I didn't really pick up on that though looking back the only natural lighting is from the glazed windows, none from the roof, but to be honest it seemed ok, I'll take a better look next time I'm there.

Have a great weekend all, weather is looking great here (15 miles form LHR) - BBQ out later

Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 8):- We stayed in the South of the Island, a town called Jandia, not many English there so we could avoid those drunken brits on holday Smile - The beach was nice, nice places to eat and walk, I'd go back again.

We hired a private villa at the north of the island, luckily it I think the island is still a little bit undiscovered by the drunken brits on holiday brigade just for the fact there is not much there to do apart from walk up the hills or lounge by the pool. Although we have seen a difference over the past 2 years that it is getting a little more commercial.

From what I can gather, there is a public road (well almost a dirt track) that runs parralell to the runway so that would be a great place for spotting / photographing

thanks for this interesting report about your trip on a probably quite unusual way of getting from London to FUE, but I guess I would have made the same choice if the prices were similar. Full-service carriers like BA still offer a bit more than the typical charter carriers.

Quoting BA319-131 (Thread starter):After sprinting from the lounge, we found the gate just 5 minutes before departure, the IB agent took our boarding passes and advised we had been re-seated, bugger, I guess they though we weren't going to show, I asked if we were still seated together and he said yes, we had been upgraded to Business Class due to my Silver Status!!

That's what I call good luck, especially on IB where Economy-service has been down-sized to a pay-for-food concept, but their Business Class seems to be on a very high standard, even on domestic flights.

Quoting Antdenatale (Reply 9):From what I can gather, there is a public road (well almost a dirt track) that runs parralell to
the runway so that would be a great place for spotting / photographing

- Ah, tks for that bit of info, I'll bear it in mind if I head back for some spotting.

Quoting Contact Air (Reply 10):That's what I call good luck, especially on IB where Economy-service has been down-sized to a pay-for-food concept, but their Business Class seems to be on a very high standard, even on domestic flights.

- Yes it was, especially as European carriers tend not to upgrade to the extent of US carriers.

Thanks for your trip report. Good detail and pics. By co-incidence I was at T1 that very same morning as you were as I was flying to DUS for the weekend on BA. I remember the EXACT group of teenagers that you are talking about. I was waiting for our boarding gate to be announced and suddenly, a whole gaggle of teenagers turned up, all wearing yellow caps, and simply engulfed everyone else sitting in the waiting area - it was so noisy that I, along with some other passengers, moved away.

It was a relief when I discovered they weren't on my flight. Sorry you had to put up with that on your flight to MAD!